Final Impressions / First Impressions / Mai-Otome

Summary:
With the battle underway, Haruka launches out to fight the enemy Otome. She faces Laura Bianchi and then Chie. While the battle rages on, Nao, Natsuki, Sarah, and the stripes gang force their way into Fumi’s mausoleum. Shizuru joins them and gets reunited with Natsuki. Inside the Garderobe school, Miss Maria shows off some spry moves while breaking out with Yukariko and Irina. They also head for the mausoleum. In response, Nagi activates his Slaves and sends them out. This includes an entire army that fires against the Airies forces. Fortunately, giant rocks come out of the ground to block the shots; Arika, Mashiro, Mai, and Mikoto have arrived. They use their powers to wipe out a good number of the Slaves, and then Mai sends Arika ahead into the city. On the outskirts, Miyu dives into a pool of water and heads for a building that’s defended by Orphans. Nagi fires the cannon on top of his castle, but Natsuki is ready to counter it with a shot of her own because she is able to activate her Robe by being connected directly to Fumi’s chamber. The two beams hit each other and bounce off-target. However, the cable to Fumi has overloaded, meaning that Natsuki won’t get another chance.
The situation looks dire since Nagi is able to fire again, but Arika flies in and blocks it. She even reflects it back and damages Nagi’s cannon. Everyone’s happy to see her again, but Tomoe interrupts the reunion. Otome from both sides of the fight now gather in a face off in front of the Mausoleum. Mashiro tries to appeal to the enemy Otome to stop fighting, but to little avail. Nagi decides that it’s time for the final stage: he activates the power of Rena’s capsule that disrupts all of the Otome’s Robes. Because she loses her powers, Arika starts falling from the sky. Chie rushes over to catch her, but Tomoe then destroys Chie’s Valkyrie Robe for being a traitor. She finds it strange that Chie was able to disobey their Shinso’s orders. As it turns out, it’s actually Shiho’s maki-maki that allowed Chie to do so. In any case, Tomoe is ready to kill everyone in front of her, including her allies. Chie realizes that Nagi’s plan was to use the invasion of Windbloom as a pretext to annihilating all of the Meister Otome. Tomoe raises her weapon against Arika, but it’s the Aswad to the rescue this time. Midori, whose REM seems to be working fine now, activates her nano-machines and charges Gakutenou into Tomoe, sending the Valkyrie crashing into a nearby building.
Yohko has Arika and Mashiro link hands, which activates Arika’s Robe again. The two head for Nagi’s tower, but a damaged and furious Tomoe once again gets in their way. This time, Arika shatters the Valkyrie’s Robe and lets her fall into the city below. Mashiro and Arika then arrive in the room where Rena’s capsule is kept. Arika finally gets to meet her mother and starts to talk to her, showing off how she’s now become an Otome. In tears, Mashiro tells Arika that she has to destroy the capsule. Arika’s thanks Mashiro, however she’s already decided on her own that she needs to do it. Arika readies her signature “Bolt from the Blue,” mouths an apology, and charges. In doing so, Arika is embraced by Rena, and she emerges from Nagi’s tower with a new Robe – the same one her mother used to have. All of Nagi’s slaves have now been defeated and the Column’s Robes have been reactivated. Mai joins the Columns, and it seems that even the Valkyrie girls are alright, including Tomoe. But Nagi still has one last card up his sleeve – the Harmonium.
Nina is at the helm because apparently Sergay was too gentle of a person to take away her powers (in other words, he didn’t sleep with her). Arika and Mashiro fly up to the tornado, but the Columns activate their Robes and beat her getting there. Everyone is using their power to try to hold it back. To help the effort, Miyu goes through with Alyssa’s final request and activates the “Trans Global Materialise System” that turns the blue star into a red star. Miss Maria and Natsuki remember the legend that said when the guiding star shines red, all of the Otome restrictions will be lifted. Indeed, everyone gains their Robes.
The entire force combines their powers and is successful at keeping Nina’s tornado at bay, so Mashiro, Arika, Haruka, Mai, Mikoto, and the Pillars head for the Harmonium in Nagi’s castle. And when Cardair’s forces, with Kazuya in command, also attack, Nagi has no choice but to pull out all of the original Slaves. Shizuru and Haruka take care of the ones in the air outside of the castle while Nao, Sarah, and Shiho handle the ones on the ground outside. The latter three are joined by Maya and Akane, who launched from Kazuya’s ship. Akane is still an Otome because she never got to consummate her relationship with Kazuya before he was taken back to Cardair. Natsuki and the others break into the castle and are confronted with more Slaves. To their surprise, a very young Miss Maria appears and criticizes Natsuki for lack of elegance. She shows them how it’s done by easily destroying all of the Slaves. Arika and Mashiro go on ahead after Mikoto issues a warning about how dangerous the Harmonium can be if used for too long. In the Harmonium’s chamber, the two are met by Nina and Nagi. Nina refuses to stop the Harmonium because doing so would kill her father. Nina and Arika disappear and reemerge outside the castle. Arika says that she understands a little of how Nina feels because she also likes Sergay. But because Nina would do anything to have Sergay, Arika must stop her.
Their fight leads them to outer space, and Nina asks why Arika is fighting. Arika responds that she made a promise to make a country where everyone can smile. Nina thinks that’s a dream, but Arika says that her dream was what made her become an Otome. Nina becomes more desperate when her attacks on Arika fail and Arika still refuses to give up. Arika convinces Nina that they can starts over. Nina links hands with her, but then the Harmonium starts reacting because keeping Sergay alive has caused it to exceed its limits. Its memories and power flow into Nina. Nagi thinks that everyone will die now. Nina seems to know what’s coming and asks Arika to defeat her. However, it’s too late because her transformation is complete – she now has wings and wields a sword that resembles Miroku. Knowing that she can’t give up, Arika summons her Sword of Akatsuki and charges Nina. Nina directs an attack at her, but Arika breaks through it and pierces into Nina. Released from the Harmonium, Nina thanks Arika and then starts falling back to the planet. Arika dives after her and catches her, but their Robes burn up on re-entry. Back in the Harmonium Chamber, Nagi is arrested by Chie, and Natsuki destroys the Harmonium. Yohko directs some girls quickly to take Sergay’s body to Garderobe.
In the aftermath, the red star turns back to blue. The refugees of Windbloom are allowed to return to their country and the agreement with the Aswad is honored. Nagi and his goons are chained up and put to work under Mai and Mikoto. The city is rebuilt and Mashiro finally completes her castle, with the sunflower on top. After the ceremony, Mashiro comments that it’s still a shabby castle, but this is where it starts. Arika thinks to herself that her dream lies here. And finally, in a house in the woods, Sergay wakes up without his memory. Watching over him, Nina introduces herself and says that they’ll slowly start over, the two of them. She has replaced the picture in her watch with one of herself, Arika, and Eristin.

Overall, I loved this episode because it’s everything I had expected in terms of action and story. Yes, the story wasn’t perfect (I wanted more explanation on Yohko and the Aswad and Aoi), but the episodes kept me excited the entire way through. The cast is so large and as I had hoped, pretty much everyone played a part. And so, here’s the final analysis:
The old hag is spry! – Simply put, Miss Maria kicks ass. And it gets even better when she becomes young. The expressions on everyone’s faces when they saw her are priceless.
Just in the nick of time – There were a lot of times where someone came in to save the day at the just in the nick of time – it got a little old watching people swoop in like that.
ShizNat – Awww, I was hoping they’d kiss or something. At least they got reunited and neither of them died.
Spiderman – It’s a shame we didn’t get to see much of Nao in action. Natsuki and Shizuru have gotten plenty of screen time but showing the other Columns fighting in only the final episodes is a bit of a let-down.
All you people crying incest can stop now – So Sergay didn’t sleep with Nina after all, that’s how she was able to keep her powers. So much for all that discussion about a loophole.
Mai-HiME– As if we weren’t getting the clues already, there are some very blatant connections shown to Mai-HiME in these final two episodes including Fuuka Gakuen, Orphans, the red HiME star, and even the words “Highly Advanced Materialising Equipment”.
Robes, Robes, Robes – Gotta love all of the new Robes they show off. Shiho’s made me laugh the most (why is there a skull on her crotch?!) and the one Arika got from her mother looked the best (oh how I wish she got to keep that instead of the pink and blue thing she ended up with). And we can’t forget Akane’s neko-mimi either. Ganbatte Akane, you’ll get Kazuya yet…
Remember back… – So the dark figure from OP1 was actually Nina! I wonder if they had that planned out from the beginning or what. She even got to wield Miroku (another nod to HiME). Actually I felt that Nina in that form didn’t get enough screen-time and her defeat came fairly quickly. Granted, they were running out of time, but that part especially felt rushed (more so than anything else).
Like watching Gundam SEED all over again – Several people have pointed out that there are numerous parallels to Gundam SEED in the fight between Arika and Nina. See this blog (scroll down to near the end) and this blog for comparison screenshots.
My biggest complaint? – Everything else aside, the thing I wish they had done the most was give these final episodes a special ending song. I am so very tired of Otome wa DO MY BEST desho?
Taters! – Sorry, I couldn’t resist calling him that. Messy hair Sergay looks a lot like Tate. For whatever reason, I couldn’t stop thinking of Jeff Lawson’s RIP Taters video from Mai-HiME. Seriously though, I’m glad that Nina and Sergay got a happy ending.
Coming soon… – By now I’m sure you’ve heard that there will be four OAVs coming this fall. I personally think that this finale did well in concluding the series and that anything they do in the OAVs should be separate from the story here (the Megami magazine article seems to support that). Cameos by familiar characters would of course be welcome, but I pray that they don’t use them like they use Mai or Miyu in this series.

Final Thoughts: It was about when SHUFFLE! ended that Mai-Otome started to get really good. That’s not to say that the first half of the series was a waste because I think all of the episodes contributed to the story (yes, even the ecchi pool one). My favorites are without a doubt episodes 17 and 18, the ones that got the story really moving towards this final showdown. Granted, Mai-Otome is not without its problems, especially plot-wise, but I thought they did a wonderful job managing the humongous cast of characters and creating an exciting, funny, and entertaining series. For me, every week in recent memory was spent anticipating watching this on Thursdays. As for how Otome compares to HiME, both rank up there on my all-time favorite shows list, but I think Otome slightly edges out HiME. I’m sure plenty of people will disagree, but that’s how I feel. In any case, Mai-Otome a must-see show.

122 Comments

  2. This, my friends, was so much better than expected ^_^

    It doesn’t turn a significantly flawed show into gold, but it certainly was a better ending than I ever expected. Lots of surprises, lots of awesome animation scenes and NO RESET.

    Will try to write a comprehensive full review of Otome on sunday. Until then, let’s celebrate 2 great final eps.

    Mentar
    Reply

  3. -I can’t believe that Nao’s new robe got so little screen time,
    -Natsuki’s using the big guns now huh?
    -Sergay didn’t die from the bullet to the head? What is he? a descendant of Johan (from monster)?
    -BOO! Nina, short = not as cute as before

    Last words: I LOVE NINA’S TOTALLY EVIL FORM!!!

    Warukyure
    Reply

  5. A happy ending!!! Can’t wait for the write-up and the subbed ep!! BTW, is that Akane in a robe that gives here Cat ears? What is that, like the Catgirl Cat’s eye gem or sumptin?

    mangamaxx
    Reply

  7. OH man, can’t see why I didn’t notice this before. As expected of Sunrise, they put in a trade-mark “gundam pose” as performed by Haruka. LOL, right out of the opening of SEED.

    mangamaxx
    Reply

  10. was i the olny one hoping the Real Nagi and Mashiro apparead to talk about the otome star and the bad-luck of the world and how it was related to the Hime-stars and such ?

    kurotsuki
    Reply

  16. hum…..i wonder how the manga will end and if this is going to ressemble this . but i doubt it since well , Sergay isn’t anyones interest . well , Maybe Nagi will have Nina fight against Arika.
    anyway , this episode was much better then i expect it to be . now lets go wait 4 month until the oav ^^

    kurotsuki
    Reply

  17. i think sergey did not sleep with nina afterall….. huh… (screen caps no 40 —-> if i’m wrong forgive me… i count it so quickly…) … i hope there’s a second seasons of this series…. o tanoshini yooo..

    bakabakashi
    Reply

  19. Great End! Love everything but Sergey Making it through, losing his memory and Nina’s ugly “new beginning” haircut! Good thing women that need to have a new begnning always have long hair or they will have to shave their head. 🙂

    golthin
    Reply

  23. i loved it but why the hell is nina still alive …at least unlike ep 24 they did not kill the mood by putting it in the middle of the ep ..
    Arika n Rena moment was sweet *sniffles* too bad she lost her robe after saving nina(arika no baka>_

    K.Neko
    Reply

  27. Yes! that’s her! HAWT doesn’t descibe her. The effect of the triple otome from the blue star activated everyone that has nano machines in the entire world. The nono machines made Miss maria young, though I don’t know if she will stay that way after she disrobe. She also kick ass without robe, never call her “Baba” if you want to keep your teeth. 🙂

    golthin
    Reply

  39. The series had more than its share of faults, but I still enjoyed it a lot. There was just so much to like about these last 2 episodes, they really needed at least another half hour. I always knew Miss Maria could kick ass, but who would have thought she’d be such a hot babe. It seems Sergey didn’t do the deed with Nina. Good! I know that bothered a lot of people. Natsuki’s Element. The return of Akane. Irina playing a major role. Midori’s power no longer limited to 30 seconds. Shiho doing something useful with her Maki-Maki Juju. And, of course, Mai and Mikoto.

    With Mai Otome, we have a World as finely crafted as any in Science Fiction. With a complex History, many varied cultures and reasonably realistic political situations to provide a back-drop, there are a lot of stories that could told. And there are still so many unanswered questions.

    Did you notice the energy that sometimes surrounded Nina looks just like the energy forms of the Orphans?

    What is Nagi? I don’t think he’s human. Remember the “Matrix” plugs all over his back?

    Are there any remnants of Schwarz still around? Secret societies are such pesky critters.

    What’s the deal with that building Miyu went into? Looked familiar, didn’t it?

    What is the blue star? I still believe it is the original colony starship that brought humans to this planet.

    Aeries was obviously this worlds USA. It was nice to see it portrayed on the side of good, instead of the SOURCE OF ALL EVIL. For some reason, I can’t get this image out of my head.

    President Bush : “We must, at all cost, keep Iran from developing Nucuelar weapons!”

    VP Cheney : “That’s ‘Nuclear’, Mr. President.”

    Zendar
    Reply

  40. I want some Nano machines! They let you do space reentry without burning up or dying from the fall, let you fall from high altitude and you don’t die (Tomoe). Sergay must have male nano machines! 🙂

    golthin
    Reply

  46. Pink and blue sure don’t match each other. Kazuya being the new leader is totally expected. At least he can be with Akane now. I just noticed that Mashiro did finish building her sunflower castle!? I thought they’re going to forget about it but….sunflower!?

    dward
    Reply

  47. Akane is now KAzuya’s Otome, but Akane has not given up! So I doubt she will be his Otome for very long. Unless they watch them like hawk to stop them from ever being alone, Kazuya is going to get some taste of Akane soon. Did you noticed how worried he was when she launched from the carrier.

    golthin
    Reply

  48. Hell yeah… If you saw the DVD Special 3 “Juliet’s Conspiracy” then you will know that Kazuya will definately want to try out his “Jelly” Lube(?) that was featured in the “Mischievous Girls Part 27” 🙂

    Perverted
    Reply

  50. All in all, a kick ass ending that made up for some of the problems.

    And I wish Arika had kept her mother’s uniform as she looks much better with her hair down and in the blue outfit.

    John Biles
    Reply

  51. A pity they lost Rena’s robe – Arika looked MUCH better in that than in her pink-fluffy thing. The hairstyle, borrowed from her mother, is much better than the pigtails she usually wears. And who knew the HIME/OTOME system kept its users young? You gotta love the reaction everyone had when they met the ‘real’ Miss Maria. “You’re HER? But you’re so… and she was so… you look smoking?!?!”

    And is it just me, or did they go with another Gundam SEED style ending, where someone wakes up without their memory, things are restored to the way they were, there’s a huge-ass fight in vacuum which has at least one impalement, and there’s at least one scene in the screencaps which had me thinking “Strike Freedom, launch!”

    Haesslich
    Reply

  53. Aeris -> America
    Jipang -> Japan
    Florince -> France
    Artai -> Rusia
    Kardea -> Germany
    Annan -> England

    Lucitia -> [insert random bickering neighbouring countries] they are based on a roman myth, though

    T_I
    Reply

  54. “No one commented about Nina wielding Miroku towards the end of her fight with Arika. XD”

    Yeah. Too bad it soon got destroyed by Arika’s own big ass sword.

    What I really wanted to see was Kagutsuchi, but I guess the fight was already too easy for the good guys.

    cclragnarok
    Reply

  55. mmm Mai Otome sure is a more interesting series then its predessor. This episode rox. Everyone get some action which is pretty much good i guess. Now you say, after a closer look it does seem that nina is weilding the miroku when she connects to harmonium. They gotta bring back the evil sword after all lol.

    Tassardar
    Reply

  57. “What I really wanted to see was Kagutsuchi, but I guess the fight was already too easy for the good guys.”

    manga spoiler:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    kiryuu
    Reply

  61. really…

    this is just so nice….

    but it leaves me wanting for more…. just like how you feel after playing halo two…. I mean for all of that at least kill some bad ass rival, not just some psycho hero. Miss Maria’s bad ass mode is so sugoi… Mai is well so-so….

    I’m going to miss them…. ^_^
    but what if there is another sequel….?

    Black Valley Necromancer
    Reply

  63. Yep, Miss Maria is HAWT!
    Akane and Kazuya are just too cute!
    What about Rena and Sergay? I wished they told us more…
    Soooo, Nina and Sergay will be father-daughter or an item?
    Poor Nagi.

    eurys
    Reply

  64. Can’t wait for the episodes to be subbed. Looks very interesting.
    Thank you very much Omni for watching this show all the weeks and for writing such good, understandable and well structured summaries!!!
    I also like your way to bring in your own opinion and thoughts!
    So Omni, for the future: Ganbate!^^

    *Chi*
    Reply

  67. A stupid happy ending ala Gundam SEED Destiny… Good guys win, perfect, the vilains are savioured but popular characters aren’t killed. The end is a crap like the whole show. Not disapoined since I’ve expected nothing from the show since a long time.

    jfjh
    Reply

  68. Nina didn’t sleep with Sergey! Fans rejoice! I’m really happy this part of the story ended up like this. I really liked Sergey (much more of a man than Tate) and was really hoping something didn’t happen between the two (although it didn’t jolt me as much as some). See now I wouldn’t mind seeing a romantice relationship (preferably without sex) between Nina and Sergey in the upcoming OVAs. Can’t wait for the subs!

    Chewie
    Reply

  70. That is wonderful!! No word can describe it better than this. Even this show is not a perfect one, It’s good enough for an easy-going watcher like me to keep following it every week. Thank you so much Omni for your great work through out the series here. Your work is truly absolutely UNIQUE!!!

    suckoja
    Reply

  71. I think mai otome has better design especially the otome dress which they didnt utilize fully…too many cast but too little screenplay. Mai hime has better story plot thought otome is more attractive

    fisherman horizon
    Reply

  74. This was very good..
    I really wanted to see some more ShizNat.. damn Sunrise, you just kept feeding our hopes ALL OVER the series and what we get at the end: ~a big smile from Natsuki~ ………. well, thank you guys, now I´m really satisfied!! >:(
    But we got to see that Hawtness of Miss Maria, so I can´t really complain.. ^^;;;

    philk
    Reply

  75. Despite all those similarities with Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny, I’m definitely thankful Mai-Otome was nowhere similar to it plot-wise or ending-wise. An excellent end, seriously, and the fact they made it a one-hour episode was well planned…This one’s definitely making my list of favorites and the best animes watched so far. =D

    F.A.I.T.H
    Reply

  80. I recall seeing a comment somewhere that the ending was akin to GSD’s…Seriously, if you think about it, there are the similarities that don’t matter, and the differences that matter. At least we know WHO exactly is the main characters this time round. Geez….Think a bit more before typing in such comments. =P

    F.A.I.T.H
    Reply

  85. this is just so wonderful

    the building MIYU dives for is the original FuuKa Gakuen of Mai-HiME era ( see how much the world has changed since then ) … so the source of real power still lay there, but MIYU only used it to help realize Arika’s wish

    Miss Maria really sent me ” Woaaahhhh !!! ” tho Yukariko’s reaction hinted at something (after i watched it a second time) . Her hair , Her B**Bs , her body … but what really threw me frm my seat was the reaction frm the others ( !!! ) well that’s Sunrise Variety Tonight for us all (hee)

    it would seem that the pink robe suits Arika’s character… but i believe she can still advance to the blue robe when need be. the pink form was her signature frm the 1st episode anyways …

    all this makes me remember the Crystal school anthem frm Fuuka Gakuen . well at least Mashiro and Nagi din retire … reminds me that she had left Fumi in charge back then

    as for Gundam parellels, the OP alone brings back memories frm Gundam Wing , where the style and pattern really began ( after colony, after war, then Cosmic era …. bleh … hahaha )

    tonbo
    Reply

  86. btw , Miss Maria’s attack pattern bears striking ressemblance to Five Star Stories’ the Strut Blade pattern made famous by Decos Weissmel ( aka the Black Knight )

    apparently the nano-machines helps preserve the person frm really serious harm , so Aoi , Tomoe and even Sergei survived otherwise lethal encounters ( Fall ! … Crash !! … HeadShot !!! )

    tonbo
    Reply

  87. Well, I think the ending for otome was better than HiME (god, I loathe any kind of “reset” ending)but overall I’d say HiME had the better story since things seemed to flow much better.

    There were too many instances where things happened out of convenience and then they gave a logical reason behind it but it contradicts the hints they laid out before (“Nina is the true princess” bit, I’m looking at you!)
    It would have been better if they led you to believe that first of all and then confirm it rather than just make it feel more like a U-Turn. But then I don’t rate the screenwriters abilities very highly after seed destiny…

    benihime
    Reply

  88. It was a good episode and finale. I think there was a bit too much crammed into the end, and still not enough to really wrap the entire Otome history. My take is that this is Earth (unless they decided to create a replica of the original academy, down to the wish ribbons and all), and what likely happened is that Seaars group created artificial HiME’s shortly after that series ended which began the history of the Otome’s (remember that Dad came back to life with everyone else at the end of HiME). Probably was a cataclysmic war at some point, which changed the face of the planet (melted the ice-caps maybe) and started the true Otome history.

    Good action, would have liked to have seen it spread out. And I really think the OAV series should be solely devoted to Neko Mimi Mode Akane ^^v

    I think that there are not only a lot of parallels with Seed, but even earlier Gundam. Holding off the harmonium was reminiscent of Char’s Counterattack, along with the battle/reentry above the planet. But I don’t mind, it was still a fun watch.

    Mai-HiME still has the edge IMHO. The animation quality was better in that series, and the bad guys were a bit too obvious this time around. HiME had the entire (are they or aren’t they a HiME thing going on), plus the shock of learning the true reason for the HiME’s wasn’t to battle Orphans meant that there were numerous climaxes along the way. This series really could have worked with another 12 – 24 episode. But here’s hoping that the OAV series will give Sunrise time to figure out a new concept for the next versionf of Mai-HiME. I vote for hearing the original HiME story that was hinted at in the first series.

    Tensai
    Reply

  89. Did you notice the patches of pink when Arika was in the blue Otome robe? That didn’t clash like her overall pink Otome robe with patches of blue. I think the white parts bordering the blue and pink colours helped a lot.

    arika
    Reply

  91. @benihime
    There was a clue in one of the first episodes (don’t remember which number, but it was the swimming pool episode) where Nina was drowning and see a memory of the person who rescued her when she was a baby.
    It’s the woman from the beginning of the first episode (Rena). And because Arika has a relative it’s clear, that Nina is the princess and not Rena’s doughter. Or am I wrong?

    *Chi*
    Reply

  95. Overall a great action packed ending, Natsuki finally kicked some ass and…MISS MARIA!!! She is DA BOMB!! Never thought I’d say that!
    Now I have a couple of complaints. There are still many things left unexplained, but I guess it’s up to the OVAs to do that. And why is there such a lack of ShizNat?!? God I’ve been waiting for some intimate closure between the two since episode one, and in the end their relationship is still left unexplained. Are they a couple or not? Argh!…Nevermind, still, the last two episodes were great and I am looking forward to more Otome action in the OVA.

    Mriaow
    Reply

  96. btw,

    not sure if anyone ever caught this, but 6 minutes into my hime ep2.. it’s Nina!?!

    was watching the DVD today and noticed this o_O;

    same hairstyle and eyes in slightly softer tones, but it is definitely her..

    gg Sunrise.. rofl

    kiryuu
    Reply

  97. Yeah she appears in a couple of the episodes as a background character, she really doesn’t move or talk. But her hairstyle is there, slightly different from how it is in otome. I’d love it if they did mai hime 2 with nina and arika, nina with her long hair thankyou..not her butt ass ugly new look. And i hear alot of people complaining about mai hime’s reset and me it was really good that everyone was brought back from death. Also complaining about having mai hime characters or nina and arika in whatever new mai series comes out, i welcome old characters being involved..like if they make a seed spin off i want kira,lacus,athrun and cagalli involved or it’ll suck.

    onna-chan
    Reply

  99. BTW anyone actually notice that Arika GEM changed name? It was robe blue sky sapphire and when she was using the sword of akatsuki, her robe is the Ultimate Blue Sky, which pretty much explains why her power can match the Ultimate Black Diamond. There seems to be more to it to each GEM. Maybe all miester GEM can unlock their final modes or smth.

    Tassardar
    Reply

  100. Did you notice at the end…. her robe was half blue and pink….. the top part was her original pink, middle both blue and pink and the bottom was her mom’s blue and white robe instead of her black hotpants with her knees exposed.

    Arika
    Reply

  102. what am about to say may offend many, i think this show sucks.

    now now, stop, you don’t have to bite my head off, i respect that many of you like it.
    i guess i just don’t like magical girl shows *this is pretty much what this is, though this one is ‘abit’ hyped up* and i hate shows with nasty bitches, this one has MANY nasty bitches hence i quite dislike.

    i only watched the first episode and then checked acouple of the shows episodes blogs every
    now and then.

    recommendation to people with similar taste, don’t watch this show.

    to the rest of you guys who liked it, just ignore this post and don’t bother explaining how good
    it really is and how i really suck..

    cheers all 🙂

    D
    Reply

  103. D…. that is not the way to watch a show. A lot of the elements in the show are not conveyed to you as the reader in the blogs. Initially I hated the show since I watched the 1st 5 minutes of the 1st ep and stopped. I started to watched it again because 1. I was still downloading it and 2. I was bored and had nothing else on my computer to watch. This time, after ep 2 I just kept going because I found it wasn’t that bad, and I was hooked and couldn’t stop (I had like 12 eps of the show on my hdd by then). Some eps are good while some were so so but all contributed nicely to the show. I don’t have much complains for I don’t analyse a show on ‘how it should have been done’ since I am not the script writer. In the end of the day I can say I have rewatched this show’s eps more times that some ‘bigger name’ anime. The ending is good but could have been better and it is not my pet project for me to criticise.

    Arika
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  104. Arika in her blue robe is cool~~
    Mai really does return! 😀
    And holy cow! Miss Maria, she’s already graceful without her robe, and then she simply kicks butt when she becomes young. And she’s hawt to boot, even though she’s nearly 3-4 times my age, old enough to be my grandmother… The expression on everyone else’s face…priceless. xDD

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

  108. I thought Mai Hime had a better ending and was better explained. I wouldn’t care less about how it ties back to Mai Hime since i consider it more of a “reference/tribute” to Mai Hime than a sequel. Also in Mai Hime the characters were expanded better and you felt an attachment to them. In Otome, its more like Nina Vs Arika most of the time and you don’t have an attachment to the rest of the characters. Besides Hime was a hard act to follow.

    But here’s some ummm….plot holes?

    1.) EDIT: nvm….found out that Nagi found the 3rd verse of the song from Aoi…though not explicitly.

    2.) EDIT: NVM again… found out Rena saved Nina in the 1st episode along with the Blue Sky Sapphire (which we all assumed was Arika). She was picked up by these resistance people, who either got the gems traded for cash or stolen from them (by Miyu) which Miyu eventually got a hold of and passed it to Arika’s grandma. That’s why everyone wonders if Arika was the princess cause she had the gems.

    Bahaha…i answered my own questions after thinking on it. Nvm. 😉

    wolfx
    Reply

  109. I’m a bit disappointed with the final fight :/ ok A LOT disappointed! I mean it barely lasted, in these times I miss the old DBZ fights which lasted for months ~_~ I like Mai Hime better. And did anyone notice that Arika was actually in Mai hime right before the end they showed her behind Mai.

    For those who were wondering about MISS MARIA: her gem is “Eternal Jasper”, hint, so probably there’s her power

    HAHA! Akane has kitty ears or something, that cracked me up.
    Has anyone noticed that basically Arika’s hair changed colors to darker in the blue robe… probably saves tons on hair colouring :/

    PS: damn u scientists! Start making those nanomachines already 😀

    QUESTION: so what exactly is Mashiro???? She’s basically nobody but gets to be the queen :/

    R.
    Reply

  110. Oh and did anyone notice the BGM insert for episode 24 and 26 had the “next episode preview” song from Gundam Seed Destiny? Its similar but the lyrics and melody is slightly different. Both are by Yuki Kajiura, no less. The one in Seed Destiny was by a male while in Otome its by a female artiste.

    wolfx
    Reply

  111. just want to say that , for me, arika meeting rena was the second best scene of the series. first of course was the aoi falling from the cliff…..and then surviving bleh… probably learned some tips from sergey

    i like mai otome better than mai hime… dunno why, but its just me and thats just MHO.

    dead
    Reply

  112. oh just went through some mai hime episodes and just want to say that crystal princess mashiro looks way cooler than crystal princess mikoto, both with the beads necklace. the episode where mashiro and fumi fought against mikoto and reito.

    dead
    Reply

  113. eh just thought somethin up

    i assume everybody’s seen hime so at the end when mashiro is leaving and u have fumi becoming the headmaster..mabye she bacame and otome after and all the other charactars are just decendants of the himes (who look very much like clones(>

    idiot who is probabley very wrong
    Reply

  115. Uhh, although it’s nice that nina and sergey get a good ending, it’s kinda sad for nina to end up separated from the others… But, well… overall, this is nice! Funny how they drag kazu out of the room the exact moment before they do it… I laugh at that…

    sai
    Reply

  116. Hmmm, so they never did explain the block which Miyu pulled out of that that had the type-1 restraint symbol on it. I thought it was to open way to Fuka Gakuen, but the location seems different.

    Ryokoalways
    Reply

  117. Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! This wasn’t no happy ending! A happy ending would have been Sergey getting iced, and instead of Eris going boom, she wound up in a coma ’til the contracts were broken. T_T

    Wrong! It’s ALL wrong! All is wrong!

    . . .

    And here I wanted it to be a blatant yuri. Despite my disappointment, it was a well-written series. But seriously, who survives such a direct shot to the brain like that? Nina, you belong with Arika, not your adoptive daddy. That’s just . . . that’s just wrong on so many levels. x_x

    RtDK
    Reply

  121. JOEL PEREZ BODY TRANSFORM INTO rad reito kanzaki for JOEL PEREZ I LIKE MAI OTOME I LOVE ARIKA YUMEMIYA I WANT TO BECOME MAI OTOME I LIKE ARIKA AND rad COOL SUNRISE BANDAI JOEL REITO LOVE ARIKA LOVE OTOME HERO JANUARY 5 2008 TOKYO CITY PEREZ 7095@bellsouth.net going to mai otome thanks you

    JOEL PEREZ
    Reply

  122. These two episodes are great because not only there was a final battle, but a new beginning has occured! I’d finished both My Hime and this spinoff, My Otome right after my last day of high school before graduation. I like the Arika vs. Nina brawl, Nina’s haircut in the end, and Arika’s new look in the fight. Both My Hime & My Otome are awesome Sunrise shows!!

    Shadowanime12
    Reply

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